OT: Should the NFLPA push mandatory counseling?
As stories about the self destruction of former NFL players pile up, questions about mental health services for NFL retirees are arising. Currently, assistance is available to former players through the University of Michigan Depression Center, but they have to ask for help:
Nolan Harrison, senior director of former players for the NFLPA, sent out a message Friday offering assistance through the University of Michigan Depression Center if someone reaches out to the NFLPA.
But some do not think such a voluntary system is enough. At least one former player is calling for mandatory counseling for NFL retirees.
“I think it has to be mandatory, because no player, not one, is going to volunteer to go on his own,’’ said former Chargers linebacker Gary Plummer, who was a teammate of Seau’s and played 15 years between the USFL and NFL before his retirement in 1997. “It’s not going to happen.’’
So, what do you think? Should the NFL or NFLPA require mental heath counseling for its retired players?
True. They really can't make it mandatory. But even just an incentive that makes counseling seem routine would help. I do think a lot of guys never want to admit they might need counseling. If it becomes something every (or nearly every) NFL retiree is doing, it would remove the stigma and make it less likely that guys would avoid counseling at almost any cost.
They can certainly make it mandatory. Just make it part of continuing as a union member. You have to comply with counseling requirements, just like lawyers, accountants and doctors have to go to continuing ed classes. Go to the classes, certify you were there. Then the NFLPA has done a reasonable job in protecting its membership.
And if the players decide to refuse to go to 2-3 hour counseling sessions, they're idiots.
I don't really see how you can force someone to participate in counseling if they aren't interested. You can make them go, but if it's anythign like mandatory CLEs for lawyers, half the people will be on their blackberries the whole time, and the rest will be reading the newspaper.
And no longer part of the union. You could require it to get their pension, but than imagine a broke retired NFL player that commits suicide on the streets homeless because they would not give him his pension. That paints a very ugly picture. You could also with hold their medical benefits, but I think you see where I am going with that as well.
"Now, the game is so popular, the money is so great, that the final curtain on a player’s career drops harder than ever - physically, monetarily, and emotionally." - from the article
The author makes an interesting point that, at one point, NFL players actually worked during the summer because the pay was not enough to carry them through, so there was exposure and preparation to their post-playing days through that structure. Even if they left the league in their late 20s or early 30s, they would have then been able to make a smoother transition to a work and home life most of us are far more familiar with. That isn't to say that CTE wasn't an issue back in the day, of course, but there obviously little understanding or awareness - Lew Carpenter and Cookie Gilchrist, for example, were diagnosed post-mortem, as I recall.
Now, as he mentions in the article, it simply ends, and because there is so much more money in the game, it seems like fewer players have seen or been introduced to the sort of patterns and structure that would aid them in their post-game existence because they don't need to supplement themselves. If you couple this with the faster, more violent nature of the game, then I can see his point - some may handle the transition well enough, but you also have the players who are both unequipped psychologically for a "normal" existence and are suffering from real physical problems which are debilitating (and therefore compounding the base problem) and, in several cases, ultimately life-ending.
I actually like the idea - in principle - of making the counseling mandatory if for no other reason than it will provide insight into players of particular concern so that proper care can be made available right from the start, but I wonder how it would be introduced - they are a represented workforce, after all, and I imagine it would require restructuring the agreement somehow. I don't think they would simply be able to issue some edict, but making counseling a component of the total care picture is a great idea, I think.
Perhaps - if they really wanted to make it part of the annual routine and avoid saying outright that it is "mandatory" - they could do something similar to what many companies are doing (we do this actually) and make employees as well as retirees do certain things (like get a physical, or in this case, mental health counseling) to maintain certain premiums or levels of benefits. Even if your motivation is financial, you're foolish if you choose to not do what they want because ultimately it is for your benefit and could reveal information that could save your life quite literally. "Consumer-driven" plans, I believe they are called. I have never been involved in negotiating a contract as intricate as the NFLPA's, so I have no idea how such a thing would be structured for a professional sports league.
That being said, I don't think the NFL and NFLPA can just sit back and wait for other lives to end so tragically - the game is different than it was even a generation ago and clearly those differences are underscoring serious problems which arise from exiting the culture of the NFL. Addressing them is long overdue.
That was a part of the article I noticed too, that NFL players in the past didn't make enought money to get by on so they took summer jobs, better preparing them for life after the NFL. I would say that in addition to developing professional skills, such summer work had to add an element of humility and reality to their lives as well.
How much of this is about counseling, though? Isn't it more about physical brain damage? Maybe that can be helped with counseling, I'm not sure - but it seems different from your typical chemical disorder.
There should be someone with more medical degrees than me that will be able to speak to this.
We really don't know at this point. Physical brain damage certainly plays a role in some of these cases, but it is just one of several possible factors. And even with physical damage, counseling could hep to understand and perhaps cope with the damage.
It does seem as though counseling or advising should be an on-going measure as they are playing, though, not just something that is tacked on once they retire.
Counseling might not help the physical damage, but it might help deal with the depression/suicidal thoughts that can arise from that damage. CTE does not have to inevitably lead to suicide.
Making counseling mandatory kind of defeats the purpose of counseling. If you don't want to be there then it isn't going to help much.
Maybe, but it can also eliminate the stigma of going. There may be a lot of ex-players who think they need help but don't want to be shamed by their peers for going. This would eliminate all that.
The root cause is all of the impacts a player takes to the head in his career. Player should get mandatory SPECT tests as part of their physical. If they don't "pass," they don't play anymore.
A change in the child support laws so that someone who is retired and maybe making 100K on the rubber chicken circuit isn't expected to pay an ex a half million to a million a year would be helpful, too.
I do think the PA should do something. A union should exist to do more than agitate the league for more money. A lot of times when someone says the NFL should do this or the NFL should do that, it's really the PA that should be doing it. Like the mandatory rookie counseling the NFL runs. It's great that they do that, but it really should be the PA's job. They have got to take a more active role in taking care of their members, so yes, they ought to be doing mandatory counseling as well as a few other services.
the first thing on the NFLPA's agenda is to appeal the Saints' players' suspensions. Right?
1. Get more money for the players.
2. Get more control for the Players' Association.
3. Fight any/all fines and suspensions. (See #1.)
4. Other; yeah that concussions thing or whatever.
I don't know about you all, but if I'm a high-profile athlete, I would not want people to know that I attend a place called the "Depression Center."
Words such as "depression" and "mental health" carry a negative connotation; instead of seeing it as an opportunity to better your life, many see it as confirmation that something is wrong with you.
Not 'counseling' as in therapy treatment sessions, per se. But having an hour lecture as part of a mandatory exit interview process may be helpful, and at the very least may serve to increased awareness. Just like rookies get financial counseling sessions during the NFL-sponsored orientation process.
There are loads of studies demonstrating a clear link between brain injury and clinical depression, both clinically and pathophysiology. Combine this with the loss of income, stress from not working, etc., it's a recipe for unfortunate incidents like Seau's.
The NFLPA has been doing a good job with their summer internship program, letting players test out other fields during the off season to help them figure out their next steps after their playing careers end.
And as I said above they are no longer part of the union once they retire. Pretty much eliminating all control over what they do.
But couldn't they change the collective bargaining agreement to make this mandatory, by tying it to their pension or something?
They should have people accountable to their own actions. Similarly, they should focus their energies on eliminating brain injuries.